The present invention relates to lasers and more particularly to a solid-state laser or the like and a multi-pass resonator.
Solid-state disk lasers and the like are being used in many new applications. Examples of such applications may include but is not necessarily limited to military laser target illuminators or designators and commercial laser material processing applications such as cutting, welding, drilling or the like. Such applications typically require laser powers between about 5 kW and about 10 kW. A single solid-state disk laser may be able to generate enough power for an industrial laser device; however, the amplifier disk may be relatively thin, about 2.5 mm, which may translate to a rather short gain length. Consequently, if a single solid-state disk laser amplifier is used in a traditional single pass resonator, such as the single-pass laser resonator 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, the resonator gain would be too low to buildup enough recirculating power to saturate the solid-state gain medium of the disk laser 102. In FIG. 1, the solid-state disk laser (SSDL) 102 may be thermally coupled to a heat sink 104. Pump beams 106 may be directed on the SSDL 102 to generate an amplified beam 108 directed through an output coupler 110. A reflective coating 112 may be disposed between the SSDL 102 and the heat sink 104 on a surface of the SSDL 102.